WWE Women's Championship
The WWE Women's Championship is a women's professional wrestling world championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE on the Raw brand. It is one of the top two women's championships for WWE's main roster, along with the NXT Women's Championship on the NXT brand. The current champion is Becky Lynch, who is in her first reign. Introduced as the WWE Women's Championship on April 3, 2016 at WrestleMania X-Seven, it replaced the Divas Championship and has a unique title history, separate from WWE's original Women's Championship and the Divas Championship. Charlotte Flair, then known simply as Charlotte, was the inaugural champion. As a result of the 2016 draft, the championship became exclusive to Raw and SmackDown created the SmackDown Women's Championship as a counterpart title. The championship was the first women's title to headline a WWE pay-per-view event at Hell in a Cell in October 2016 and, along with the SmackDown Women's Championship, was also defended in the main event match of WrestleMania XX in April 2019, WWE's flagship event. History ]] On April 3, 2016, WWE Hall of Famer Lita appeared during the WrestleMania X-Seven pre-show: after recapping the history of women's professional wrestling in WWE, she declared that WWE's women would no longer be referred to as WWE Divas, but as "WWE Superstars" like their male counterparts. The term "Diva" had been criticized by some commentators, fans, and several past and present female wrestlers, including then-Divas Champion Charlotte, as diminishing female's athletic abilities and relegating them to "eye candy". Lita also unveiled a new title belt and revealed that the Divas Championship would be retired in favour of a new WWE Women's Championship. The inaugural champion was determined by a triple threat match] between Charlotte, Becky Lynch, and Sasha Banks later that night, which was originally scheduled for the Divas Championship. Charlotte, the final Divas Champion, became the first WWE Women's Champion by winning that match. Following the reintroduction of the brand split in July 2016, then-champion Charlotte was drafted to the Raw brand, making the championship exclusive to Raw. It was subsequently renamed to Raw Women's Championship after SummerSlam in August, when SmackDown created the SmackDown Women's Championship as a counterpart title. When the title was introduced, it shared its name with the original Women's Championship. However, the new title does not share the same title history as the original, which was unified with the Divas Championship in 2010, with the combined title inheriting the latter's lineage and history. WWE acknowledges the original championship as its predecessor. The championship was the first women's title to be defended in a WWE pay-per-view main event, which was at Hell in a Cell on October 30, 2016; this was also the first-ever women's Hell in a Cell match and the first women's match to main event a WWE pay-per-view. At the event, Charlotte defeated Sasha Banks to become a three-time champion. After two years, it was again featured in the main event match of a pay-per-view, which was the first-ever all-women's pay-per-view Evolution on October 28, 2018, where Ronda Rousey retained the title against Nikki Bella. Rousey then defended the title in a winner takes all triple threat match against SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch in the main event of WrestleMania XX on April 8, 2019, which Lynch won. This was the first women's match to main event a WrestleMania – WWE's flagship event. Brand designation history When the championship was unveiled, there was no brand division as that had ended in August 2011. From its inception until the reintroduction of the brand extension in July 2016, then-champion Charlotte defended the title on both Raw and SmackDown. Championship belt design The Women's Championship belt is similar in appearance to the WWE Championship belt, with a few notable differences. The strap is smaller to fit the champion, and white, as opposed to black. The die-cut WWE logo in the center plate sits on a red background, as opposed to a black one. The small print below the logo reads "Women's Champion". Like the WWE Championship belt, the Women's Championship belt includes two side plates, both separated by gold divider bars, with the WWE logo on the globe as default plates, which can be customized with the current champion's logo. This is the first women's title in WWE with replaceable side plates. Reigns Main article: List of WWE Women's Champions As of , , there have been 15 reigns between 7 champions. Charlotte Flair, then known simply as Charlotte, was the inaugural champion. She is tied with Sasha Banks for the most reigns at four. Ronda Rousey's reign is the longest at 232 days while Banks' fourth reign is the shortest at 8 days. Alexa Bliss has the longest combined reign at 398 days. Becky Lynch is the current champion in her first reign. She defeated previous champion Ronda Rousey and SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair in a Winner Take All Triple Threat match to win both titles at WrestleMania XX in East Rutherford, New Jersey on April 8, 2019. Category:Raw Category:Women's championship